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THOMPSON & WALKER.

Nicking Screw Caps.

Patented Sept. 24, 1867 JfigA fm/erzfors 6K;

gut i271 gram List tart @t'firr.

onnnnns n. rnonrson AND WILLIAM WALKER, or ew HAVEN, connorrcnr.

Letters Patent No. 69,271, dated iSeptembor 24, 1867.

IMPROVED MAGHINE FOR NIOKING SCREW-GAPS.

- TO ALL WHOM rr MAY oononnm Be it known that we, OHAnLns E. THOMPSON and WELLIAM WALKER, both of the city and county of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Nicking the Cups of Screw-Heads after the caps are closed on to the heads; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction, character, and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, in which i Figure 1 is a pcrspcctivcvicw of the machine or apparatus when ready for use, showing the capped screw-head in its position, and the cutter as advancing.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same cut vertically through the operating parts, showing their relativeipositions while operating.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cutting die or punch detached from the sliding centre. Figure 4 is a perspective view of a capped screw ready for nicking. Figure 5 is a perspective view of a screw with its cap nicked as afinishcd article. Our improvement consists in makin the machine with a space in the revolving centre 'to receive a. spiral spring, against the end of which the point of the screw will rest while the cap on the head is being nicked, and to throw thc screw out when finished, and a cutting die in the sliding centre which, when forced forward by the jointed lever, will cut the nick in the cap so as to correspond with the nick in the screw-head and force the strip so cut inward, so as to completely line the bottom of the nick; and in the method hereafter described of displaying the position of the nick in the head of the screw through the cap,so as to enable us to nick the cap so that it will correspond with the nick in the screwdmad without the use of any force which might injure the finish of the cap, and to leave the bottom of the nick in tho' scrow-hoad completely lined. We make the body or frame of the machine of cast iron, or any other suitable material, with three perforated standards or posts substantially of the form represented at A A A, figs. 1 and 2. In the standard or In post A we fit a revolving centre, as indicated at a and b, fig. 1, and represented at a 6, fig. 2, with suflicient enlargement or shoulders, as shown at b, fig. 2. We perforate this revolving centre from end to end, and in this perforation we fit a suitable spiral spring, as c, the outer or loft-hand end of which is sustained by a pin or plug, d, and the inner end by a suitable cap or'washcr, into or againstwhich it receives the point of the screw, the cap of which is being nicked, as indicated ,near Z1, fig. 2, and we secure this centre or socket in its place by a collar and bindingscrcw, as shown at'c, figs; 1 and 2. In the two standards A and A we fit a sliding centre, as B, which we work longitudinally by means of a jointed lever, g h, working on a fulcrum-pin, k, to carry the die 2' forward to'nick the cup. In the forward or left-hand end of this sliding centre B we fit a steel die, made substantially in th( form shown in fig. 3 and indicated at z' in figsnl and 2, making the cutting part, as at 2', fig. 1,

of the proper width, and of tithickncss slightly less than that of the nick in the head of the screw, so as to work freely in sucli nick. Having made and arranged the several parts of the machine, and prepared screws with their heads properly nicked, and capped with smooth or whole sheet metal, (the same as the heads of nails are capped,) we strike the upper surface of the head of the screw with a proper huii, which, while it will not mar the finished l surface of the cap, will force the soft metal into the nick in the iron head, so as to make a perceptible depression in the cap, as indicated at m, fig. 4. We then pass the point of the screw into the revolving centre, as represented near I), figs. 1 and 2, so that its point will rest in or against the end of the spiral spring 0, and then bring forward the sliding centre B until the point of the cutter i presses against the head of the screw, (and to some extent forces back the spiral spring 1:.) We then turn'tho revolving centre (by means of the crank Z) till the depression m in the cap coincides with the end of the cutter i, when the spring 0 will force the screw outward as far as the depression in will permit, and when the cutter t exactly coincides with the nick in the head we force the sliding centre forwardin the direction indicated by the dart until the cutter z' completes the nick in the cap, as indicated in fig. 2. We't'lien draw back the cutter, when the spring c'will throw the screw out with the cap completely nicked, as shown in fig. 5, and the bottom of the nick in the iron head completely lined with the strip cut from the central part of the cap, while the ends of the strip are not separated from the cap, which will give the head the appearance of being made of solid metal like the cap.

For use, the frame A A A" may be held in a bench-vise, or secured to the hunch by screws-0r other fasten ing in 3; horizontal position, as represented in 'figs. 1 and 2. or we may fit it vertically to {L bench or a post, (with the left-hand end downward and ins'teztd of the crank I :1 pair of bevel gear-wheels, or other equivalent means, may be used for revolving the centre a b; and the sliiling centre B Ditty be operated by a, foul-press, or any other mechanical equivalent which will protluce the same result, and the sliding centre ll may he curried up or bank by means of :1 spring or a weight for the next operation.

\Vhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

The combination of the revolving centre a b and springcwith the sliding centre B iinil punrh 1', when they are constructed, arranged, and fitted to produce the result, su stantially as herein described and set forth. 0. THOMPSON Wk VALKE l.

Witnesses:

EDWARD Bnrman, R. FITZGERALD. 

